August 31, 2009
Open Letter to Tim Tebow's Fans
Ted Kluck, co-author of Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion, gives a good reminder to Tim Tebow fans (and the rest of us) on the dangers of heaping excessive adulation on the devout Christian and stellar athlete (winner of a Heisman trophy and two national titles). Excerpt:
So keep enjoying him, like I will. Cheer for him if you like the Gators, and cheer against him if you don't, even though he's a Christian. This is okay. And pray for him, his sanctification and his ministry, if you think about it. Pray that as Christians we would be always boasting in the cross of Christ. Pray that we would worship our Creator, and not the creation—even if that creation (college football, the spread offense, Tim Tebow) occasionally allows us a glimpse of greatness.
August 30, 2009
C.S. Lewis: Beyond Narnia
A free, 55-minute biographical drama of C.S. Lewis.
HT: John Piper
The Privilege of Suffering: Jesus is Worth it
The To Every Tribe Mission Conference this October 29-31, 2009 is entitled The Privilege of Suffering: Jesus is Worth it. The speaker line-up includes Dr. Erwin Lutzer, David Sitton, Dr. Timothy George, Dr. Hershael York, Dr. David Sills, Fred Zaspel, Rod Corner, and Ron Sanford.
The official invitation:
Spearheading the gospel into unreached regions is risky!I first heard David Sitton when he came to the 2006 Bethlehem Baptist Church pastors conference entitled How Must a Pastor Die? The Price of Caring Like Jesus. Listen to Mr. Sitton's powerful message here.Join us this Reformation Weekend, October 29-31, 2009 as we consider the daunting personal price that is sometimes required of those that take Christ into tough places. Yet, even more than that, consider the incredible privilege we have to be carriers of his great Name to the nations
God calls all believers to be imitators of Christ and to live lives worthy of his Name. There is nothing more powerful in evangelism than a life humbly laid down for Christ.
The ultimate imitator of Christ is a missionary martyr.
When: October 29 – 31, 2009
Where: NorthWest Georgia Trade & Conference Center – Dalton, GA
Cost: $79.00 if registered before October 1, 2009. ($89.00 after October 1, 2009.)
Choosing Thomas
A powerful video of a Christian couple, T. K. and Deidrea Laux, who chose to have a child they knew had a terminal genetic disorder (Trisomy 13). Children with this disorder generally live only a few hours or days. In Deidrea’s own words:
“We didn’t not terminate because we were hanging on to some sort of hope that there was a medical mistake or there was gonna be some sort of medical miracle. We didn’t terminate because he’s our son.”
HT: JT and Denny Burk
August 28, 2009
Ezekiel Emmanuel and the Rationing of Health Care
Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel is a health-policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of the Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research. He is also the brother of Mr. Rahm Emmanuel, White House Chief of Staff. He has been in the news of late because of the end-of-life counseling provisions found in the House version of the health care reform bill, but dropped from the Senate version. Over the last 16 years, Dr. Emmanuel has regularly published his thoughts on the allocation of health care resources, on the importance of controlling costs, and in looking out not just for an individual patient's interest, but for the societal or communal interests as a whole.
Betsy McCaughey (Chairman of Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths and a former lieutenant governor of New York), writing for the Wall Street Journal, gives a good overview of Dr. Emmanuel's statements on these mattters, quoting from his medical journal articles and op-ed pieces since 1993. An excerpt:
As he wrote in the Feb. 27, 2008, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA): "Vague promises of savings from cutting waste, enhancing prevention and wellness, installing electronic medical records and improving quality of care are merely 'lipstick' cost control, more for show and public relations than for true change."Another excerpt:True reform, he argues, must include redefining doctors' ethical obligations. In the June 18, 2008, issue of JAMA, Dr. Emanuel blames the Hippocratic Oath for the "overuse" of medical care: "Medical school education and post graduate education emphasize thoroughness," he writes. "This culture is further reinforced by a unique understanding of professional obligations, specifically the Hippocratic Oath's admonition to 'use my power to help the sick to the best of my ability and judgment' as an imperative to do everything for the patient regardless of cost or effect on others."
In numerous writings, Dr. Emanuel chastises physicians for thinking only about their own patient's needs. He describes it as an intractable problem: "Patients were to receive whatever services they needed, regardless of its cost. Reasoning based on cost has been strenuously resisted; it violated the Hippocratic Oath, was associated with rationing, and derided as putting a price on life. . . . Indeed, many physicians were willing to lie to get patients what they needed from insurance companies that were trying to hold down costs." (JAMA, May 16, 2007).
In the Lancet, Jan. 31, 2009, Dr. Emanuel and co-authors presented a "complete lives system" for the allocation of very scarce resources, such as kidneys, vaccines, dialysis machines, intensive care beds, and others. "One maximizing strategy involves saving the most individual lives, and it has motivated policies on allocation of influenza vaccines and responses to bioterrorism. . . . Other things being equal, we should always save five lives rather than one.McCaughey's conclusion:"However, other things are rarely equal—whether to save one 20-year-old, who might live another 60 years, if saved, or three 70-year-olds, who could only live for another 10 years each—is unclear." In fact, Dr. Emanuel makes a clear choice: "When implemented, the complete lives system produces a priority curve on which individuals aged roughly 15 and 40 years get the most substantial chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get changes that are attenuated (see Dr. Emanuel's chart nearby).
Dr. Emanuel concedes that his plan appears to discriminate against older people, but he explains: "Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination. . . . Treating 65 year olds differently because of stereotypes or falsehoods would be ageist; treating them differently because they have already had more life-years is not."
Dr. Emanuel has fought for a government takeover of health care for over a decade. In 1993, he urged that President Bill Clinton impose a wage and price freeze on health care to force parties to the table. "The desire to be rid of the freeze will do much to concentrate the mind," he wrote with another author in a Feb. 8, 1993, Washington Post op-ed. Now he recommends arm-twisting Chicago style. "Every favor to a constituency should be linked to support for the health-care reform agenda," he wrote last Nov. 16 in the Health Care Watch Blog. "If the automakers want a bailout, then they and their suppliers have to agree to support and lobby for the administration's health-reform effort."Read the whole thing.Is this what Americans want?
Can A True Believer Embrace The Prosperity Gospel?
John Piper says yes:
How To Sell ObamaCare
Charles Krauthammer is eerily incisive in his column today -- a column I hope the President and his party's leaders are not reading. In short, a case is made for how ObamaCare 2.0 can be sold to America, with little in the way of immediate cost growth. For those wondering how universal coverage paves the way to rationing, this is the piece to read. Krauthammer unpacks five steps:
(1) Forget the public option.
(2) Jettison any reference to end-of-life counseling (as the Senate has already done).
(3) Soft-pedal the idea of government committees determining "best practices."
(4) More generally, abandon the whole idea of Obamacare as cost-cutting.
(5) Promise nothing but pleasure -- for now (universal coverage, no denial for pre-existing conditions).
Read the whole thing.
August 27, 2009
The National Debt Road Trip
Illuminating and instructive (for the record, I agree that Bush and his GOP-led congress were driving too fast):
HT: Matt Perman
August 26, 2009
BibleWorks, Logos, and Accordance
Keith Mathison of Ligonier Ministries compares BibleWorks, Logos, and Accordance. (I have Logos on a PC and I like it, but it is a tad slow sometimes.)
COLLISION - Doug Wilson/Christopher Hitchens
Now available for pre-order, the movie COLLISION: Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson
"Collision: Hitchens vs. Wilson" - EXCLUSIVE 13 minute preview from LEVEL4 on Vimeo.
August 25, 2009
Obama & Bush Approval - 7 Months In
Who would have thought? (And this is before the 9-11 bump that Bush got.)
From: Real Clear Politics
Update on Unemployed Alumnus Who Sued Her College
I previously wrote on the story of Trina Thompson, 27, who, three months after graduating, sued Monroe College over her inability to land employment. Apparently, agencies big and small have been heaping scorn on Thompson. But Mark Gimein, an author for Slate magazine, has now published an articulate defense of Thompson, lambasting the methods and marketing of Monroe College. His article has also been picked up by New York magazine. Gimein writes:
The story of Thompson's suit isn't a one-liner about a grad too naive to know that graduating from college doesn't guarantee a job. It's a story about what 'college' means and about marginal, for-profit 'colleges' that squeeze four years of fees from their students and leave them with all the debt and little of the education or prospects that they counted on.The essence of Gimein's argument is that Monroe masquerades as a College (providing a liberal arts education) but is really more of a vocational, for-profit school (not unlike a trade school for auto mechanics):
As should be very clear to anyone who's taken a look at what Monroe College is really about, however, what's at stake is not a "liberal arts" education as anybody understands it. The difference between what Thompson was offered and what a traditional vocational school-the kind of "business institute" that Monroe once billed itself as-proposes comes down mainly to her education taking longer, costing more, and offering far less certain outcomes.Read the whole thing - he offers a very provocative argument. I don't know Monroe College, but I think we can all agree in the principle of truth in advertising.The magic word here is college. By presenting itself as a "college," Monroe and similar institutions achieve the neat trick of offering a lot less for a lot more money. Hardly anyone would blink at the notion that an unhappy, unemployed graduate might sue a trade school for getting a raw deal. But by transmuting itself into a "college," Monroe can siphon four full years of tuition from its students and at the end of it all dance away from any commitment, implicit or explicit, to find its students jobs because that's not what a "college education" is about.
HT: Chronicle of Higher Education
Personal Responsibility and Public Policy
A good word from Thomas Sowell here on personal responsibility and its frequent neglect in discussions of societal ills. My favorite clip (with classes about to start up again):
Students are discussed largely as passive recipients of good or bad education.Read the whole thing.But education is not something that can be given to anybody. It is something that students either acquire or fail to acquire.
Thomas Sowell is the author of the recent outstanding book The Housing Boom and Bust
August 24, 2009
Dual Citizens - Jason Stellman
Speaking of the Two Kingdom Theology and Neo-Kuyperian discussion, this new book, Dual Citizens: Worship and Life between the Already and the Not Yet, probably contains some extended reflection from the Two Kingdom perspective. The author is the Rev. Jason J. Stellman, a graduate of Westminster Seminary California. Rev. Stellman is ordained by the Pacific Northwest Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America and is the planting pastor of Exile Presbyterian Church in the Seattle, WA area.
The endorsements:
"I do not know of a book quite like this one. It is a devotional theology of the Christian life that is far richer than the standard fare on offer in the “spirituality” and “Christian disciplines” sections of Christian bookstores. Yet it is also a down-to-earth account of how the gospel and its public ministry of Word and sacrament provide the right coordinates for our pilgrimage at a time when we are easily drawn off course by the winds of fashion and consumer tastes. After reading this book, you will doubtless be provoked, as I was, not only to ponder our precarious location at the intersection of “this present evil age” and “the age to come,” but to praise the God who leads us by his Word and Spirit as we journey on. Digesting this book will lead you to sing with greater gusto those closing words of another hymn: “Solid joys and lasting treasures, none but Zion’s children know.”
- (From the Foreword) Michael Horton, Westminster Seminary, Escondido, California
“The subject of Christ and culture has never been as popular among conservative Protestants in the United States as it is today, and the topic has never needed as much attention from the perspective of the church. It gets that attention in this important book by Jason Stellman. Dual Citizens will certainly upset those used to thinking of Christ as mainly the transformer of culture. But for genuine wisdom not only on the culture wars, but on the culture, ways, and habits of the church, Stellman’s discussion is the place to go.”
- Dr. D. G. Hart, Director of academic programs Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Wilmington, Delaware
Healed For Holiness - John Piper
August 23, 2009
Piper Clarifies Tornado Remarks
John Piper clarified his remarks on the tornado that ripped through Minneapolis, MN while the ELCA was having their national convention (during which they voted to allow for people in "publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders of this church"). In a sense, he reiterated his remarks, which many have misunderstood.
Piper notes:
God’s message to me in my tornado [prostate cancer] was essentially the same as to the ELCA in theirs. My tornado was "a gentle but firm warning to me and all of us: Turn from every approval of sin in your life. Turn from the justification and promotion of any behaviors in your life that lead to destruction. Reaffirm the great biblical heritage of allegiance to the truth and authority of Scripture. Turn back from your inveterate bent to distort the grace of God into sensuality. Rejoice in the pardon of the cross of Christ and its power to transform you and all other sinners." (from Thursday's post)Read the whole thing.
All The Money In The World, Redistributed
I was humbled and somewhat amazed when my wife mentioned this to me over lunch today:
Question: If all the net worth (money, assets, etc.) in the world were redistributed, so that every human being had the same amount, what would that amount be?
Answer: About $9,000
HT: Ask Marilyn
Wow. This should evoke (from all of us) thankfulness to God, and generous, wise stewardship of the incredible wealth that He's entrusted to us. We can also observe the widespread economic blessings of a free, capitalistic economic system. For an excellent argument that wealth is actually created in such systems (not merely transferred), see Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem
Update: Keep in mind that $9000 goes a lot farther in some parts of the world than it does in the U.S. This in no way detracts from the importance of compassion for those in need. But part of the solution, particularly in the two-thirds world, is more freedom for individual citizens to own private property, and to steward it to reap a return on investment (which they are allowed to keep and re-invest). Wealth is created in such contexts, such that there are overall net gains (for the society as a whole), as we've seen (fantastically) in countries like the United States. Again, see the Richards book. [A lot of ministries assist with microloans for the indigenous poor, facilitating them to start small businesses. I'm told that these methods tend to work quite well.]
August 22, 2009
ELCA Approves Leaders in Same-Sex Relationships
As expected, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted the following resolution:Later that afternoon, their leadership voted 559-451 to allow "people in such publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders of this church.""Resolved, that the ELCA commit itself to finding ways to allow congregations that choose to do so to recognize, support, and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same gender relationships."
The vote was 619-402.
August 20, 2009
God's Two Kingdoms
The relationship between an individual Christian, the local church (as a corporate gathering of believers), and the wider secular culture is frequently batted around these days. Kevin DeYoung and the folks at the White Horse Inn have provided something like an introduction/primer on this topic with their exchange in recent days.
Here is the sequence of their interaction:
1. Kevin posts on Two Kingdom Theology and Neo-Kuyperians, offering some praise and critique for both.
2. The White Horse Inn folks reply; first, Jason Stellman; then, Darryl Hart.
3. Kevin offers some brief follow-up.
HT: JT
Tim Keller: The Gospel and The Poor
On July 22, the Reverend Tim Keller, of Redeemer Church in Manhattan, NYC, joined Here's Life Inner City to discuss "The Gospel and The Poor: A Case for Compassion" at the Campus Crusade for Christ U.S. Staff Conference in Fort Collins, Colorado. Here is a 19-page PDF outline of his message.
Tim Keller: The Gospel and the Poor: A Case for Compassion from Here's Life Inner City on Vimeo.
August 18, 2009
Is Obama The Anti-Christ?
You've been dying to know:
This video (as of this moment) has over 370,000 views. Thankfully, Dan Wallace, textual expert extraordinaire and author of the very helpful Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics
Is he the Antichrist? In the least, the linguistic torturing required to make the biblical evidence say this is beyond the pale of reason and, perhaps, sanity.
HT: Denny Burk
Ray Ortland - Why He's In Acts 29
Ray Ortland lists six reasons why he is in Acts 29 (aka, A29).
Robert Novak (1931 - 2009)
Syndicated conservative columnist Robert David Sanders "Bob" Novak has died today at the age of 78 after a battle with cancer.
Lewis, Edwards, and Piper on Humility
John Piper:
"Humility is the one grace in all our graces that, if we gaze on it, becomes something else. It flourishes when the gaze is elsewhere—on the greatness of the grace of God in Christ."Read more.
Piper includes this great quote from a letter from C.S. Lewis to his friend Arthur:
During my afternoon “meditations,”—which I at least attempt quite regularly now—I have found out ludicrous and terrible things about my own character. Sitting by, watching the rising thoughts to break their necks as they pop up, one learns to know the sort of thoughts that do come.(quoted in The NarnianAnd, will you believe it, one out of every three is the thought of self-admiration: when everything else fails, having had its neck broken, up comes the thought “what an admirable fellow I am to have broken their necks!” I catch myself posturing before the mirror, so to speak, all day long. I pretend I am carefully thinking out what to say to the next pupil (for his good, of course) and then suddenly realize I am really thinking how frightfully clever I'm going to be and how he will admire me...
And then when you force yourself to stop it, you admire yourself for doing that. It is like fighting the hydra... There seems to be no end to it. Depth under depths of self-love and self-admiration.
by Alan Jacobs, 133)
Piper also highlights this theme in Jonathan Edwards.
Worship God Conference Audio - Free Downloads
The WorshipGod Conference, an annual event held at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is devoted to the theology, practice, and joy of God-honoring worship. The most recent conference (August 5-8, 2009) had plenary sessions given by John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, Bob Kauflin, Thabiti Anyabwile, and Jeff Purswell. Their messages are now available as free audio downloads.
The God of Worship (John Piper)
The Heart of Worship (John Piper)
The Leaders of Worship (Jeff Purswell)
The Church of Worship (Thabiti Anyabwile)
Lessons Learned from Three Decades of Leading (C.J. Mahaney and Bob Kauflin)
The Future of Worship (Bob Kauflin)
August 10, 2009
Senate Confirms Francis Collins To Lead NIH
With unanimous support from the U.S. Senate, Dr. Francis Collins has become the 16th director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH is the world’s largest biomedical organization, comprising 27 institutes and research centers that together employs about 18,000 individuals. Its research program has an annual budget of $29.5 billion (second only to the Department of Defense). [HT: The Christian Post, which has more info.]
Dr. Collins is highly regarded for his pioneering work in guiding the Human Genome Project to completion. He is also an outspoken born-again Christian (having been converted from atheism by the aid of Mere Christianity
Some Christians, such as Justin D. Barnard, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Carl F.H. Henry Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University, have raised concerns about Dr. Collins' view on abortion. Others, such as Marvin Olasky of World magazine, while not questioning his faith, have taken issue with Collins' view of Scripture. Olasky writes (in part):
Let’s be clear here: Collins is not an atheist like many Darwinians. He told the New Yorkers that “atheism is the least rational of all the choices.” He’s not a deist: He believes not only that God got the ball rolling, but that miracles can happen, although not very often. He believes in Christ’s resurrection. But he doesn’t seem to have a high view of Scripture, which is where we primarily learn about Christ’s resurrection.Here’s just one example: Collins’s BioLogos website declares, “It seems likely that Adam and Eve were not individual historical characters, but represented a larger population of first humans who bore the image of God.” Many subsequent figures in the Bible, preeminently Jesus, referred to Adam as an individual: Were they deluded?
HT: Sarah Pulliam
Related: An Associated Press report.
August 09, 2009
Baptism - Three Views
I really like the multi-views books that InterVarsity Press and Zondervan have been putting out for a number of years now. In fact, it was that style of book that got me going on Five Paths To The Love of Your Life (NavPress, 2005). So I'm intrigued by this new IVP title on Baptism, which I've heard some good things about. The Believers' Baptism View is presented Bruce A. Ware, the Infant Baptism View by Sinclair B. Ferguson, and the Dual-Practice Baptism View by Anthony N. S. Lane. As with other books of this sort, each contributor not only presents his own view, but also responds to the other two views.
About the Contributors:
Sinclair B. Ferguson is senior minister at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina, and serves as professor of systematic theology at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas, Texas and is Distinguished Visiting Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA. He is the author of numerous books including In Christ Alone: Reflections on the Heart of the Gospel.
Bruce A. Ware is professor of Christian theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has written numerous journal articles, book chapters, book reviews, and has authored God's Lesser Glory, God's Greater Glory, and Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Anthony N. S. Lane is professor of historical theology and director of research at the London School of Theology. He is the author of A Concise History of Christian Thought, John Calvin: Student of the Church Fathers, and Justification by Faith in Catholic-Protestant Dialogue and compiled The Lion Christian Classics Collection. A world-class Calvin scholar, he abridged the Institutes into a popular student edition and also edited the translation of Calvin's Bondage and Liberation of the Will.
Arrogance and Humility
J. Budziszewki makes a great distinction:
Arrogance doesn't come from having convictions about the truth; it comes from having the wrong convictions about how to treat people who don't share [them] with you. Humility doesn't come from not having any convictions; it comes from having the right convictions about the importance of gentleness and respect.From How to Stay Christian in College
by J. Budziszewski. This is an outstanding book on how to withstand the onslaught of secularism which can bombard Christian college students, particularly at state and other non-Christian institutions. It is written with an engaging tone and a great blend of illustrations that weave together Budziszewski's message, which ranges from his own testimony, to topics like worldview issues, handling non-Christian friends, and social aspects of campus life.
August 08, 2009
You Are Terrifying Us
Peggy Noonan on the message of citizens to their elected officials at the health care townhall meetings:
They hired a man to represent them in Washington. They give him a big office, a huge staff and the power to tell people what to do. They give him a car and a driver, sometimes a security detail, and a special pin showing he’s a congressman. And all they ask in return is that he see to their interests and not terrify them too much. Really, that’s all people ask. Expectations are very low. What the protesters are saying is, “You are terrifying us.”Read the whole thing.What has been most unsettling is not the congressmen’s surprise but a hard new tone that emerged this week. The leftosphere and the liberal commentariat charged that the town hall meetings weren’t authentic, the crowds were ginned up by insurance companies, lobbyists and the Republican National Committee. But you can’t get people to leave their homes and go to a meeting with a congressman (of all people) unless they are engaged to the point of passion. And what tends to agitate people most is the idea of loss—loss of money hard earned, loss of autonomy, loss of the few things that work in a great sweeping away of those that don’t.
People are not automatons. They show up only if they care.
And Charles Krauthammer outlines what would be a great direction for health care reform. (1) Tort reform (to lower costs) and (2) Portability ("There is no logical reason to get health insurance through your employer.")
August 06, 2009
John Piper's Suggested Premarital Questions
John Piper puts together a good (and fairly exhaustive) list of conversational topics and questions for those considering marrying one another. The questions are organized under the topical sub-heads of theology, worship and devotion, husband and wife, children, lifestyle, entertainment, conflict, work, friends, and health and sickness.
August 04, 2009
Obama's Universal Health Care Goals
Sometimes you have to follow a politician's career a bit to get an idea of where they want to go. The one-minute video below is from a speech on June 30, 2003 from Illinois State Senator Barack Obama to the Illinois AFL-CIO. In it, he clearly affirms that his long-term goal is a single-payer, universal health care system but that "we may not get there immediately. First, we have to take back the White House, and we've got to take back the Senate, and we've got to take back the House."
Hmm. He now has all three. So why is it that with a filabuster-proof majority in the Senate, and a strong majority in the House, the President is not as forthright with this sort of language? Sometimes the simplest explanation is the most reasonable: Because the American people don't really want to go there, but he intends to take us there anyway.
August 03, 2009
College Students, Expectations & Performance
The recent story of Trina Thompson filing a lawsuit against Monroe College for lack of career placement support prompted me to reflect on my own interactions with college students.
I try to watch for the occasional disparity between a student's self-estimation and their true level of giftedness or skill. Paul writes in Romans 12:3, "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment." I've noticed that some of my strongest students (academically) are often the most mindful of their shortcomings. Conversely, some of my academically weaker students come to class with an unreasonably high estimation of their abilities.
I try to impress upon both groups (and those in between) the lesson of Luke 12:48, "Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more." We see this in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30) where Jesus heaps the same praise on the man originally entrusted with five talents as the one with two talents. The issue was faithfulness; both were said to have been faithful with "little" (Matt. 25:21, 23).
Alumnus Sues College Over Inability To Secure Job
Over vacation with my family recently I poked around a book entitled Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before
Twenge notes that Gen Y (what she calls "Generation Me") tends to put themselves first and to have high expectations for their life. This is a highly optimistic generation with no shortage of self-esteem. Says Twenge:
They expect to go to college, to make lots of money, and perhaps even to be famous. Yet this generation enters a world in which college admissions are increasingly competitive, good jobs are hard to find and harder to keep, and basic necessities like housing and health care have skyrocketed in price. This is a time of soaring expectations and crushing realities. Joan Chiaramonte, head of the Roper Youth Report, says that for young people "the gap between what they have and what they want has never been greater." (Generation Me, p. 2)I could see how that might lead to discontentment, anxiety, and discouragement.
All that by way of background to the recent story of Trina Thompson, 27, who graduated from New York's Monroe College this past April with a bachelor of business administration degree in information technology and a 2.7 GPA. Unable to secure employment (at a time when unemployment nationwide is close to 10%), Thompson has sued Monroe College for $70,000 for tuition (the full cost) and $2,000 to compensate for stress. She claims that Monroe College's career-services department has not exerted sufficient effort to help her land a job:
"They're supposed to say, 'I got this student, her attendance is good, her GPA is all right -- can you interview this person?' They're not doing that," she said.
The NY Post reports:
"She's angry," said Thompson's mother, Carol. "She's very angry at her situation. She put all her faith in them, and so did I. They're not making an effort.Thompson also claims that Monroe's Office of Career Advancement shows preferential treatment to students with excellent grades:"She's finally finished [with school], and I'm so proud of her. She just wants a job."
"They favor students that got a 4.0. They help them more out with the job placement," she said.
Thompson is entitled to a fair hearing, but her allegations seems fishy on the surface. For starters, attending college is no guarantee that one will immediately obtain field-related employment (even in a more stable economy). Secondly, soon after completing my undergraduate, I learned that many employers screened applicants at the 3.0 GPA level. The standard procedure of our placement office was to pass along a stack of resumes from students interested in specific open positions. The placement office did not "push" any candidates in particular. The employers would then select certain students for phone or on-site interviews. Naturally, higher GPA students received more solicitations.
Thirdly, Thompson has been unemployed for only three months - not much time in today's job market. Maybe she should send out more resumes or pursue short-term employment to boost her resume and develop stronger references (many college students graduate with little or no relevant work experience). Lastly, one wonders why Thompson's mother feels compelled to fight battles for her 27-year old (adult) daughter.
Update: An articulate writer with Slate magazine presents the other side of this dispute.
Gay Marriage, Democracy, and the Courts
There is no doubt that Dr. Robert George, Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University and founder of the American Principles Project, is one of the most articulate spokesmen in our day on the issue of same-sex marriage. Today he penned an outstanding WSJ article on the possibility of the Supreme Court weighing in on Proposition 8 (which restored the historic definition of marriage in CA as the union of husband and wife). Excerpt:
Lawyers challenging traditional marriage laws liken their cause to Loving v. Virginia (which invalidated laws against interracial marriages), insinuating that conjugal-marriage supporters are bigots. This is ludicrous and offensive, and no one should hesitate to say so.Read the whole thing.The definition of marriage was not at stake in Loving. Everyone agreed that interracial marriages were marriages. Racists just wanted to ban them as part of the evil regime of white supremacy that the equal protection clause was designed to destroy.
Opponents of racist laws in Loving did not question the idea, deeply embodied in our law and its shaping philosophical tradition, of marriage as a union that takes its distinctive character from being founded, unlike other friendships, on bodily unity of the kind that sometimes generates new life. This unity is why marriage, in our legal tradition, is consummated only by acts that are generative in kind. Such acts unite husband and wife at the most fundamental level and thus legally consummate marriage whether or not they are generative in effect, and even when conception is not sought.
August 01, 2009
Sons & Daughters - New Sovereign Grace Music
Sovereign Grace Music will be releasing their most recent album, Sons & Daughters, this Wednesday (August 5) at their WorshipGod09 conference. Bob Kauflin introduces the album a bit:
The songs are primarily meant for congregational worship, and focus on themes related to 1 John 3:1: "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are."I just checked out the samples of the 12 new songs on this album. They sound fantastic (as is typical for all their albums). [I'd imagine that after this Wednesday, this album will be added to the Sovereign Grace Music Store.]The project came out of a perceived lack of songs that help us meditate on the unfathomable love God has shown us in adopting us through Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:5). We are now part of God’s family - in Christ we will forever be the objects of God’s particular and passionate mercy and love. We are not only forgiven, we are co-heirs with Christ, and never again have to doubt God’s care for us. That biblical reality, rather than leaving us focused on ourselves, drives us once again to proclaim the greatness of the God whose grace turns hopeless rebels into the precious children.
Pakistan Christians Burned to Death in Islamist Attacks
By Islamic extremists today set ablaze more than 50 houses and a church in this town in northeastern Pakistan following an accusation of “blasphemy” of the Quran, leaving at least 14 Christians dead, sources said. (Other news reports say six were killed and another ten injured.)Read the whole thing.The dead include women and children, with several other burn victims unable to reach hospitals for medical care, according to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS). The attack came amid a protest by thousands of Muslim Islamists – including members of banned militant groups – that resulted in another six people dying when participants shot at police and officers responded with tear gas and gunfire.
Rev. 6:10-11 "They cried out with a loud voice, 'O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?' Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been."
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